WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

GA-EPD also wanted to know what if the catch basin fills up?
Valdosta’s answer: tanker trucks to ship the sewage from the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Or the other direction, if needed.
That sounds like a fine idea.
Although it doesn’t address the question of what if the heavy rains fall directly on Valdosta and both WTPs fill up.

Tom Mirti of SRWMD described
Florida water quality testing,
but didn’t mention that FDEP’s monthly testing isn’t made public until four months later.
He did mention that FDEP is now testing for
sucralose.
Merrillee Malwwitz-Jipson, who requested that, was sitting right there.
Thanks to her and Jim Tatum for coming from Florida to this meeting.

Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber said Valdosta was still testing at the state line,
which caused me to ask
why I didn’t get any results for those locations this year in response to open records requests, then?
Valdosta Utilities Director Darryl Muse said that was because they haven’t actually tested at the state line this year.
He also complained that he had staff working 100 hours a week.
Which makes me wonder whether the city of Valdosta is really giving him what he needs,
or whether he hasn’t asked for everything he needs.

Anyway, people were rightly impressed with how much Valdosta has done and with their current plans.
However, there is still room for improvement.

Last Thursday, NCFRPC E.D. Scott R. Koons noted that Appointments to the task forces for each of the toll road corridors would start soon.
Among the types of representatives that are supposed to be appointed, are environmental organizations (two of those listed in the bill are on record opposing it).

Koons also discussed approved funding for a hurricane evacuation study.
Why, you may wonder, was the toll road bill, supposedly largely about hurricane evacuation, passed before that study was even started?

Ken Cornell of Alachua County noted
“There’s a lot of election cycles before this is going to be done.”
Indeed, a new governor could decline to implement this toll road boondoggle,
and if enough elected officials on the task forces oppose it, that might even stop it. He also said:

Three of the Waterkeepers of Florida were at the Capitol in Tallahassee Wednesday,
two of them for
Reclaiming Florida’s Future for All,
an annual event organized by ReThink Energy Florida and others.
Of course Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) was prominently represented.
Banning fracking was top of the long list of issues on the agenda.
Water Quality and Quantity included
Valdosta (and other) wastewater.

Two weeks ago, WWALS member Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson asked the state of Florida
what baseline water quality testing had been done downstream of Valdota,
and:

Please begin water samplings for the isotope for sucralose, fecal
coliform testing and any other water testing establishing what or
who is culpable of contamination in our protected, Outstanding
Florida Waterways.

Yesterday she got an answer.
She agrees with my assessment of
the data supplied:
“Sparse locations and only monthly, but better than nothing.”

However, how can the state of Florida be
“committed to monitoring and stopping this recurring problem.”
when they
“do not
allow for enforcement actions directed at the source of sanitary
sewer overflows, nor for routine water quality surveillance for
sources of river water contamination”?

Now it’s true that last restriction was only cited as applying to the
Florida Department of Health (FDOH),
not the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration (DEAR),
and not to the
Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
But which of this alphabet soup of agencies should be doing
“routine water quality surveillance for
sources of river water contamination”?

The beginning of the final paragraph of the response does not
indicate any intention Continue reading →

Valdosta Utilities naturally painted as rosy a picture as possible,
and newspapers have limited space, so here is the rest of the story
about Valdosta wastewater at the Suwannee River Water Management District
board meeting last Tuesday.
SRWMD Chair Virginia H. Johns understands the stigma,
and Board Member Virginia Sanchez spelled it out:

“You don’t want to swim in a little sewage versus a lot of sewage either. Both of them are bad. A spill is bad.”

Let’s not forget
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson,
who pointed out something Valdosta doesn’t want to hear:
it’s the stigma of sewage spills that is the big problem they are causing.
For sure we need to find out what the specific health and other effects are
of Valdosta sewage and other contamination on river water and nearby wells.
But the stigma of Valdosta sewage goes far beyond that.

Anyone who understands fracking is opposed to it. If they understand
it but still support it, then they must be gaining profit from it.
There is no “gray area” with fracking. There is nothing
good about it. There is no such thing as safe fracking.

While the Rivers Task Force of the dozen downstream Florida counties
is looking for
something to do to help,
Valdosta clearly hasn’t yet done enough to stop its sewage spills,
but they are doing more.
Here’s some context that may indicate what might help.
Spoiler: water quality monitoring, funding for further fixes,
and enforcement if necessary.
Unless raw sewage spills really are what Valdosta wants to be known for in
Tallahassee and Atlanta.

Also:
come on up and talk to the Valdosta City Council.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson did,
and it got their attention.
They keep
hearing from me for years now,
and it helps to see somebody directly affected downstream come up and speak.

This post is mostly about two Valdosta City Council meetings, that included much discussion of the recent Valdosta wastewater spills, on
on Continue reading →

We went to Rum 138 to see Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson,
when Janet Barrow and I needed to know about the early move of the Sabal Trail pipeline off of the Ichetucknee River.
Merrillee, Janet, and I are writing a book about five years working together
promoting solar power and opposing that hazardous fracked methane boondoggle.

Three laptops and mounds of paper were used.
Almost three months later, we’re still digesting what Merrillee turned up
out of her archives.
Things we didn’t realize about fossil fuel feints and many solar successes
are becoming clear as we compare notes.